Speedie's Blog

My Writings (I hope!) reflect my Guiding Principles:
-'Enjoy Life to the Utmost but not at other people's expense'-'Think Global, Act Local'-'Variety is the Spice of Life'-'Use Technology & Wisdom to Make the World A Better Place for All God's Creatures'-'Do Not Accept Injustice No Matter Where You Find It'-'Laughter is the Best Medicine'

Public parks, woods and other green spaces are more and more recognised as essential to the health of people and to the wellbeing of the planet.Sadly Galway city’s public parks are increasingly suffering from anti-social behaviour that is undermining all of the great work that has been undertaken over so many decades by volunteers of all ages. Issues such as litter, dumping, destruction of seating/tables and tree felling are undermining not only citizens’ enjoyment of our valuable green spaces but are also impacting negatively on wildlife species. It is well past time that Galway city follows the centuries-old example of Dublin and Belfast in having dedicated full time park wardens. Such on-the-ground staff could regularly carry out essential maintenance, act as tour guides, dramatically decrease acts of vandalism and in the process restore public confidence and usage of a rich diverse range of meadows, forests, wetlands and parks that would be the envy of most other European cities.

A motion from Councillor Mark Lohan in requesting such a full-time parks crew is on the agenda of the first meeting of Galway City Council in 2019, that starts at 2pm on next Monday (January 14th).So we are asking all lovers of our urban green amenities to join us at 1.40pm outside the front door of City Hall and demand that all councillors support this critical motion that could make our parks and natural heritage areas as popular as St. Stephens’ Green or Phoenix Park in Dublin, Hampstead Heath in London or Central Park in New York.Lets make a positive start to the New Year by having our publicly elected local politicians implement a policy that will positively transform our parks and natural heritage areas

I took this photo on the evening of St. Stephen's Day in Terryland Forest Park. It captures somewhat the mythical nature of the Hazel tree, with its catkins almost luminescent in the rising darkness.
The Hazel in Celtic mythology is associated with magic, wisdom and
poetry. Its fruit- the hazel nut- was a great source of nourishment in
ancient times and is still collected by local families in the autumn.
Its wood was used for making furniture, fencing and wickerwork. In our
community garden we have used it in conjunction with willow branches to
make fences. Druid wands were made from hazel. Because the tree grew
near water, it also has strong connections with fertility. It was
believed too that the source of Ireland's most scared rivers, Shannon
and Boyne, were to be found at wells guarded by hazel trees whose nuts
would impart great knowledge and magical prowess to those that eat them.
Its twigs were used by diviners to locate water underground.

Cepta and myself have fond memories of our
childhood Christmases and the stories that our parents told us of their own
youthful days at this very special time of the year. We did indeed experience many of the characteristics of today’s
Christmas such as Santa Claus, a Christmas tree in the living room and special
programmes on the TV station. Nevertheless it was then first and foremost a deeply
religious festival of Christian thanksgiving which our parents expected us to respect
and to observe.

In my father’s (& mother’s) time…

On winter evenings around the fireside, mom,
dad and particularly my grandparents, would tell stories of their own harsh poverty-stricken
Christmas in a rural Ireland before the era of plastic trees, glittering
baubles, twinkling electric lights, expensive gifts and sumptuous festive dinners.
In those bygone days they would get up early and gather branches from Holly
(holy) trees in the hedgerows to decorate their homes. For them the thorns and
red berries symbolised the bloodied crown of thorns of the crucified Jesus. But
the sacredness of this native Irish tree goes back thousands of years earlier, when
it was recognised as a protector of Nature, with its red berries providing a
rare source of food to the birds in the depths of darkest winter, and a
reminder too of the resurrection of life during the coming Spring.Lots of families made their own wooden figures
for Nativity scenes that were placed prominently in the kitchen and which was a
microcosm of the larger crib in the local parish church (a custom introduced by
Francis of Assisi during the European Middle Ages).

Morning mass, where they happily engaged
with all the cousins and neighbours, was followed in the late afternoon by a family
meal comprising exotic foodstuffs not consumed at any other time of the year. Before
refrigeration, a key element was the Christmas pudding (kept in a recycled
metal biscuit tin), comprising fruits that had been dried out and stored from
the autumn harvest with a generous lashing of home distilled whiskey (poitín)
even though my parents throughout their lives hardly ever drank alcohol (Dad
was a lifelong ‘pioneer’). As in the
modern era, the main delicacy was poultry. But rather than the American-originated
turkey, they usually had the luxury of enjoying one of their own geese.

But in the lives of ordinary people, meat
was then a rarity. It was only normally consumed on Sundays (the ‘Sunday
roast’) and on important religious/seasonal festivals.

This celebratory meal was primarily a gathering
for the extended family, when those bothers and sisters who had gone to work in
Dublin or had emigrated to nearby Britain would, at least before they got
married, try to travel home for the most important day in the Christian
calendar.

As was the custom at the beginning of every
mealtime in Irish Christian homes in times past, a prayer was recited in thanks
for the food that was about to be served.

On Christmas night, a simple wax candle was
lit and placed in the window. It represented the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ that guided
the ‘wise men (possibly Zoroastrian magi from the land of or modern day Iraq or
Iran), with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, to the livestock barn
where the newborn baby lay.

In the days before rural electrification,
it must have been an awe-inspiring sight for children to look across a darkened
Irish countryside vibrating with small flickering candle-lights emanating from
isolated farmers’ cottages. It was as if the heavenly night sky had become one
with the Earth.

So in honour of our parents for this and
all Christmases, our family (as with so many other families) continue to
observe some of the best of the old Irish Christian traditions. We decorate the
walls with holly, make a Star of Bethlehem backdrop for an internal Nativity
scene, place candles on the windows and doorways with some family members
attending the local church and then enjoying a festive meal together.

Whilst I have many disagreements with the
Catholic Church stretching back to my teens, nevertheless I have always being
an avid follower of the great inspirational progressive, radical, pacifist,
non-sectarian, communal feminist figure known as Jesus Christ.

So to all my atheist, pagan, Jewish,
Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Hindi friends may I wish you all a peaceful and
joyful Christmas and New Year.

The Velvet
Shank mushrooms are found through the Terryland Forest Park at this time
of year. With their glistening slippery orange copper surface they
bring a lovely magical beauty to a largely bare woodland in winter
especially when surrounded by a carpet of lush green mosses. But
what is most striking and wonderful about such lifeforms is that they
makes their homes and takes their nutrients from the stumps of dead
trees and other deadwood. In Nature, there is no such thing as 'waste'- everything is recycled and upcycled. Humanity is out-of-sync with the rest of Nature where a 'circular (economy) system' is the foundation of all life.

A dedicated volunteers of the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden
in the Terryland Forest Park spent Saturday completing the green
facility for a period of hibernation.
Whilst Spring is the season
for the first signs of growth for much of the garden's vegetable and
fruit species, and late autumn represents the end of their life cycles,
we have noticed that some plant-life now remain active during the
traditional winter period. Sadly this is a sign of Global Warming
that is impacting negatively on the whole interconnecting biosphere.
With flowers blooming earlier in the year, pollinating insects and birds
such as migratory swallows suffer as their life cycles become
out-of-sync within their eco-systems. This is one of the reasons for the
increasingly serious decline in the numbers of flora and fauna over the
last few decades. The same problem continues onto the winter which
is suppose to be a time when soil needs to replenish and much of the
wildlife world needs to sleep.
Still we urban gardeners extend
the traditional Irish seasonal greeting of "Nollaig Shona agus
Áthbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh" and look forward to working with
like-minded people across Galway and beyond during 2019 in protecting
the rest of Nature from the devastating influences of humanity caused by
a relentless drive for a progress that is becoming a Road to Hell.
Remember though, that in spite of the serious local, national and
global problems that we face, to be positive. For together we can and
will make a difference. "Is feidir linn" (Irish = “Yes We Can!”).

Thanks Mayor Niall McNelis for making such a wonderful speech and unveiling a plaque at the Computer & Communications Museum NUI Galway in honour of my friend Dr. Chris Coughlan - The Legend and the Legacy., co-founder of this important technology heritage learning facility.
I was honoured on the night to follow the speech of the Mayor by saying
a few words of my own on the legend that was Chris Coughlan. He was truly a giant amongst men and has left a powerful beneficial legacy on so many fronts in Galway that will last for generations to come.

Chris was instrumental in establishing the TULCA Festival of Visual Arts,
the Galway Technology Centre, WestBic, the Digital Entreprise Research
Centre (DERI) NUI Galway as well as the computer museum that we
co-founded along with Liam Ferrie (Celtic Rambler), Pat Moran, Frank McCurry and Tom Frawley.
He was a director of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Galway, adjunct
Professor of Business at NUI Galway, former President of the Galway
Chamber of Commerce, former President of the Chambers of Commerce of
Ireland and former chairperson of the Galway Civic Trust. A man on a
mission with a powerful vision of where Galway needed to be, Chris did
not take fools gladly and was refreshingly honest, blunt and forthright
in his views. He had a generosity of spirit that was unique and he
served as an important mentor to so many people from the world of
business to that of the arts. Chris also had a deep sense of social
responsibility and secured for instance the provision of computer
facilities to a number of educational establishments in disadvantaged
communities over so many years. He and myself would agree to disagree on
a number of political issues but that never got in the way of us seeing
a common goal or aspiration that we worked towards for the good of
society. Anyway he told me often that he looked on himself sometimes as a
bit like me, “a good natured Bolshie” which pleased me no end! We
shared a lot of other things in common too including early careers in
our youth as managers of small computer stores!

I am proud to have known Chris, to have worked with him, to have been inspired by him and to have called him a close friend. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.

The annual
Christmas party at my workplace is unique and it is something that I
love helping to coordinate. For it is a wonderful vibrant celebration of
the cultures and ethnic traditions of the people that happily work
together at our university institute.
The taste, quality and
variety of traditional foods on offer are consistently top class. As
always so many volunteers do so much cooking/baking to ensure that all
attendees enjoy an array of exotic tasty sweets, cakes and deserts. As well as the food there was live music, dance, videos and posters from across the globe.
This year we had exhibits from fourteen countries/regions (Australia,
Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, France, Ireland, India, Mediterranean,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Syria and samples of
foods from Greece, Kurdistan, Lebanon and Slovenia).

Then there is the 'Greenscreen', the ‘Open Mike’, the ‘Giving Tree’
(gifts to local people in need), the Best/Worst Jumper Competition and a
real live very jolly Santa (aka Niall O'Brolchain).
If only the
rest of humanity got on as well as all the nations of the world at
DSI/Insight NUI Galway! We must be what the United Nations aspires too
and what governments need to emulate if the world is to work together to
make a sustainable future for all forms of life.

We are asking all lovers of nature and of community
to join volunteers at 10am on this Saturday Dec 8th from the Quincentenary
Bridge entrance to take part in a significant cleanup in Terryland Forest Park that we
hope will highlight the unacceptable increased levels of anti-social behaviour occurring
there over the last few months particularly in terms of litter and therefore
the critical need for Galway City Council to follow the lead of other cities in
appointing full-time parks’ grounds staff.

Working with community volunteers and
implementing an ‘Adopt a Patch’ scheme with local residents and businesses that
we will launch next month, we feel that this new suggested policy change by
City Hall could have a major positive impact on reclaiming the park for the
people of Galway in order to fulfil its official designation as the “People’s
Park” and the “Lungs of the City” as well as a urban wildlife sanctuary.Terryland has the potential to become a major green regional
hub linking the Connemara Greenway over a new pedestrian bridge along the old
railway pillars, to the Corrib waterways and to a large untapped
walking/cycling ‘boreen’ network on the north and east sides of the city.

Sadly years of council neglect due to a
shrinking budget from government and other factors is destroying our city’s green spaces
particularly in relation to Terryland Forest Park, a green facility that its
founders in 1996 had hoped would become the equivalent of the Phoenix Park of
Galway.

A dedicated team of volunteers from all
walks of life have done so much over the last few years to successfully develop
this natural heritage zone as an Outdoor Classroom for local schools; an
Outdoor Laboratory for third level science research; a major ecological
corridor and sanctuary for wildlife that research has shown contains at least
350 species; and a landscape for revitalising rural heritage skills and organic
farming. But sadly the absence of on-the-ground park wardens and maintenance
staff has led to an epidemic of litter and a surge in vandalism that is transforming
Terryland and other public parks into ‘No Go Zones’ for the public as well as negatively
impacting on the park’s biodiversity.

Sadly the visitor is now greeted with carcasses
of blackened burnt tree trunks on abandoned night-time campfires; the wanton
destruction of picnic benches; paint-peeled park seating; mounds of alcohol bottles/cans
lying beside outdoor exercise equipment; overflowing uncollected ugly council blackbags
beside every seat which are ripped open with their contents covering woodlands and
killing wildlife in the process; the detritus of heroin drug use in the form of
used needles and tin foil scattered across pathways; gates and boundary fences
rotting away; a Terryland river that is being choked to death by nitrates and many
large empty display boards deprived of their lovingly researched and
artistically drawn biodiversity information signage that have been inexplicably
kept for years in cold storage by the council. This sorry state of affairs is destroying the morale of many
of those who have given thousands of hours free of charge since March 2000 to
plant tens of thousands of trees, to develop a network of wildflower bee haven
meadows, to carve Celtic art into large stones in order to form a unique heritage
trail and to install multiple bat boxes. Many veteran volunteers of all ages have
understandingly recently given up collecting rubbish monthly when they see no
reciprocal council system in place to ensure regular litter picking and
bench/fence/seating maintenance.

This is a nightmare scenario to the
visionaries drawn from council staff, politicians, state agencies, academia,
local communities, schools and the environmental movement who came together in
the 1990s to designate 180 acres of fields to develop a wonderful mosaic of
parklands, farmland, wetlands, waterways, and woods that would serve the
leisure needs of Galwegians of all ages as well as providing a ‘wildlife
corridor’ linking the Corrib waterways to the farmlands of east Galway via the
city.Even then they understood
the importance of easy access to natural land/waterscapes for people’s physical
and mental health as well in benefiting children’s learning experiences through
contact with Nature. Since then the importance of forestry in combating Climate
Change,maintaining soil fertility
and structure as well as filtering toxic car emissions out of the atmosphere has
being scientifically proven.

So we have written to Mayor McNelis, a great
friend of the Terryland Forest Park, for his help in re-establishing the great
sense of unity of purpose that existed when the park opened on a Sunday in
March 2000 as c3,500 people turned up to plant an entire urban woodland in the
heart of the city. We have asked him to organise a meeting of community activists
with the CEO, officials, and councillors of Galway city council around our key
demands of the reconvening of the park’s multi-sectoral steering committee
which was promised last February by CEO Brendan McGrath; to ring-fence the
€50,000 allocated in last year’s council budget towards developing a Management
Planor Terryland park/river that
was supposed to happen in 2018 and has not; to appoint a city Biodiversity
Officer as is the case in Dublin; to consider building ‘green bridges’ to
connect the different parts of the park separated byroads; and finally to appoint full time wardens and
operative staff for this and other parks. The latter is crucial if we are to
restore public confidence in Terryland. Not having park ground staff is ludicrous.
For instance St Stephen’s Green and Phoenix Park would degenerate into a dangerous
wasteland within weeks if Dublin City Council withdrew staff from its
grounds.

In February, doctors, teachers, students, scientists,
resident associations, urban farmers, environmentalists, state agency
representatives, politicians, artists and others will come together to launch
the campaign for Galway to become Ireland’s first ‘National Park City’. We earnestly
wish City Hall to be part of this initiative. Hence we hope their actions on
Terryland Forest Park over the next month will make the council worthy partners
in this project.

Today Halloween is joyously celebrated by children across the Western world.There is a popular misconception
though that Halloween is a modern American invention. Not so. Though our American cousins have to be congratulated for making this very special festival a fantastic children-centric occasion nevertheless, as with so
many other things that have brought great happiness and joy to humanity for millennia, its roots lay firmly in the culture of the Irish Celts!(Photo- my son Dáire & 'friend'!)
Yet in the modern repackaging of this
ancient pagan festival, many of the fine traditions that
were once such an integral part of the festivities have disappeared. For instance our
Celtic custom of placing human skulls with candles at entrances to
domestic dwellings in order to ward off evil spirits has been replaced
by lights in hollowed-out pumpkins! Likewise
the visits of children dressed up in ghoulish and macabre fancy dress
going door-to-door looking for gifts of sweets and fruits is a poor
substitute for the former visits of the ghosts of our ancestors who used
to drop in once a year on October 31st for a nice meal with their
living relatives (we would prepare a place for them at the dinner
table).
It was said too that live captives were placed in wicker cages above
huge bonfires and burnt alive (as portrayed in the classic British 1970s
cult film “The Wicker Man”). But such horror stories were originally
spun by those nasty Romans when they were at war with the Celts. So it
was probably nothing more than malicious enemy propaganda. After all,
what do you take us Celts for? Barbarians?!!

As with so many other annual family festivals, Halloween has become so
commercialised by 'Americanised' popular culture that its true origins
and religious aspects have long since being forgotten.
So here is the true story of 'Féile na Marbh' (Festival of the Dead'):

Christianisation of 'Samhain'Yet
modern-day Americans were not the first people to re-brand the
festival. In the middle ages the Catholic Church created the Christian
festival of 'All Hallows Eve' or 'All Souls Day' when people were asked to remember and pray for their dead family members.
This event was superimposed onto the ancient pagan Celtic festival of 'Samhain'
which marked the end of the summer season characterised by heat &
light and the coming of the dark cold barren winter months.

Celtic Festivals
Typical of many agricultural societies, the Celts had four major annual
festivals based on the cyclical differences experienced in the changing
seasons of nature and their corresponding weather patterns. The other
three were 'Imbolc' (spring) 'Bealtane' (summer), 'Lugnasa' (autumn). The latter was associated with harvest time.

Bon(e)FiresSamhain was a time when food was
hoarded as people prepared for the cold season when no plants grew.
While many domestic animals such as cattle were brought indoors for the
winter, others were slaughtered and most of their meat salted for
storage whilst the remainder was cooked for the big feast. As with all
Irish festivals, communal bonfires were lit as people gathered together
at warm fires to socialise and to give thanks to the deities. Bones of
the slaughtered animals were thrown into the fire as symbolic gifts to
the gods, an action which give rise to the term ' bone fires' or 'bonfires'. Embers from this sacred fire were taken by local people to their households to light their own domestic fires.

Antecedents to the Pumpkin & 'Trick or Treat'
But Samhain was also a time when creatures from the supernatural world could enter into the world of mortals. 'Fairies' (Irish='Sidhe' as in ‘Banshee’/‘female fairy’)
and the spirits of the dead would walk the earth. Many of these beings
were benevolent and the spirits of dead ancestors; so families laid out
extra food and set aside a table space for their ghostly visitors. This
metaphorised into the custom of today's children dressing up as demons
and witches & calling to the neighbours' houses to receive presents.
But there were spirits that came on the night of Samhain that were
malevolent. Candles were placed in skulls at the entrance to dwellings
as light was feared by these dark foreboding creatures. This protection
against evil became transformed in modern times into the positioning of
hollowed-out turnips and later pumpkins with carved out faces and
internal candles at windows and doorways.
Centuries-old party games of trying to eat an apple lying in a basin of water ('bobbing') or dangling on a string tied to a ceiling ('snapping') are still popular festive past-times with Irish children.

The apple is probably the most common edible fruit in Ireland. It was also strongly associated with the spirit world and the fairies (sidhe). In the Arthurian legends, the mystical island of Avalon is where King Arthur obtains his magical sword Excalibur and where he is taken at the end of his life by the Lady of the Lake and her female fairy companions (banshee). Avalon comes from the Welsh word afal or Irishaball.

Fortune Telling at Halloween
Central to the Irish Halloween is the eating of a fruit bread known as 'Barmbrack' from the Gaelic term 'Báirín Breac' (speckled or spotted top). It is still a popular festive food today.
Various symbolic pieces were placed in the dough before it was baked
such as a ring, a pea and a stick. When an item was found in the slice
when it was being eaten, it told of the future that awaited the
recipient. For instance, the 'ring' signified marriage within a year; a
'stick' represented a bad or violent marriage; the 'coin', wealth and a
'pea', a long wait before marriage.

Irish Export Halloween to North America
The Irish emigrants of the nineteenth century introduced Halloween and
its rituals to America. Within a few decades, the festival was
transformed into the fun and games event of today.Significant Irish Contributions to World Culture:No. 7642- 'Dracula'
Considering our national passion of asking the dead to resurrect
themselves & drop into the house for a late night meal & party,
it should come as no surprise that the world's most well known vampire Count Dracula was the creation of an Irishman, the novelist Bram Stoker in 1887.
His inspiration though was Carmilla, a book about a lesbian vampire created naturally enough(!) by another well known Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu.

Over the course of the 20th century, Irish canals became increasingly ignored by the state as rail, road and air took over as the main arteries of transportation. Our canals and inland waterways fell into disuse, were abandoned and largely forgotten. A major achievement whilst Michael D. Higgins was Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht was to reverse this trend and allow Ireland’s inland waterways to become major opportunities for sustainable national and local tourism. He began connecting the waterways with the result that Ireland today has over 1000 kilometres of navigable waterways, providing employment and tourism in localities across the country.

As Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Michael D. Higgins signed, on behalf of the Irish government in 1997, the EU Habitats Directive that requires member states to maintain or restore favourable conservation status for certain habitats and species.

Of particular importance were the Irish bogs which account for 10% of the world’s total. This Habitat Directive was and is vital to protect the small number of bogs that are classified as Natural Heritage Areas. Peatlands possess unique biodiversity as well as being important areas for flood prevention, water quality and as critical storage areas for carbon, up to 57,402 tonnes of carbon per year (EPA BOGLAND project).

Michael D became one of the few Irish government ministers ever to enact legislation to protect endangered wildlife and their habitats and to reverse the millennia old destruction and exploitation by mankind of the planet’s natural heritage.

As a former owner (i.e. guardian) of a bog and as a son of a man whose family lived and worked on the great Bog of Allen for generations, I was so proud of what Michael D as Minister did to protect some of the last remaining bogs of Ireland.

Throughout his tenure as Senator and TD, Michael D Higgins campaigned tirelessly at home and abroad against the oppression of peoples, in defense of human rights and in securing justice for all.

It is notable that whilst most Irish parliamentarians over many decades unashamedly kept their mouths shut on human rights abuses particularly perpetuated by western governments and their allies, Michael D had the courage of his convictions not to allow himself to be coerced into silence. He did not distinguish between torture and coercion committed by the USA, China, Soviet Union or any other regime. Whenever the opportunity arose to defend the downtrodden and stand up to the powerful, he did so.

In recognition of this consistent, effective and proud record, he became the first recipient of the Seán MacBride Peace Prize awarded by the International Peace Bureau in 1992.

His international causes included highlighting abuses in countries such as Chile, Iraq, Western Sahara, Turkey, East Timor and Somalia, some of which he visited and some of which he was expelled from.

During the 1970s and beyond, Michael D was a supporter of the Anti-Apartheid movement as it sought to end the racial oppression of blacks in Southern Africa and introduce democracy.

I was with him in 1981 when we and thousands of others protested outside Lansdowne Road against the decision of the IRFU to tour apartheid South Africa and ignore the call for an international boycott of the regime.

The photo shows Michael D. and my dearly departed good friend and former Students Union colleague Maria O’Malley at a UCG Reunion in 2010 holding a poster that I kept from the late 1970s promoting a boycott of South African produce such as fruits that were being openly sold by Dunnes Store and other Irish retailers.

On February 11th 1990, I along with dozens of other peace activists was lucky enough to be with him in a packed Atlanta Hotel on Dominick Street Galway city, as we watched the release of Nelson Mandela from prison unfold live on television. Michael D and many people in Galway and across Ireland were part of the international people power movement that succeeded in finally forcing Western governments to end their support of the racist South African government.

Michael D was a good friend of Kader Asmal,who was founder of the Irish Anti-Apartheid movement, lecturer in law at Trinity College for (1973-1990), and became Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry in South Africa in 1994 in the first post apartheid government.

Since May 2015, I have visited South Africa many times, most recently to Johannesburg this month, primarily in my capacity as a course content creator and master instructor for the wonderful Africa Code Week initiative that is bringing technology skills education and hope to a generation of young Africans across the continent. The leaders of this programme- Claire, Sunil, Julie and Bernard are visionary people that Nelson Mandela would be proud off.

In the early 1970s, women were treated in Ireland as second-class
citizens by the state and as the servants to men by the Catholic Church.
Married women were barred from working in the Civil Service; divorce
and the sale of contraceptives were illegal; women got paid less than
men for doing the same job; children’s allowances were paid only to
fathers; barring orders did not exist to
protect wives from violent husbands; wives could not legally refuse to
have sex with their partners; women had no legal rights to a share of
the family home.

For young
women in education and work, there were even problems trying to obtain
bank loans. Unlike their male counterparts, the banks were hesitant
about providing loans to female students as it was felt that soon after
leaving college, they would get married and lose the ability to repay by
becoming house-bound wives with no independent incomes.

Michael D
Higgins was at the forefront of all the major campaigns to secure
equality for women. He was one of the very few members of the Oireachtas
that stood by these issues of women’s rights from the 1970s onwards. As
with Noel Browne a few decades previously, he earned the wrath of
conservative and religious mainstream society at the time, condemned as
someone that wanted to undermine family values. This was particularly
evident in the Divorce referendum campaigns of 1980s and 1990s. Yet he
never backed down in spite of the verbal and written tirades hurled at
him

I have known and admired Michael D. Higgins since I came to Galway in September 1975 as a student at University College Galway (now NUI Galway). His activism, speeches and writings inspired me and countless others to follow his example of campaigning and speaking out against the vested selfish anti-patriotic interests in Ireland and across the world that are defined by their need on a daily basis to steal the hard work, dreams and lives of ordinary people.

The Galway Advertiser published my letter entitled 'Consience of the Nation' below in October 2011 during the last presidential election. I am proud to say that Michael D. lived up to the hopes I state in the last paragraph that "His presidency would rekindle our national spirit,
making us proud to be Irish, and being able once again to offer
something of worth to the wider global community." As someone that works across the continent of Africa, from Cairo to Capetown, and in countries across the Middle East, I know that his political track record and his tenure as presidency are held in high esteem outside Ireland. He has without doubt brought honour to our country.

Dear Editor,In
a period of public disillusionment with a governing system that has
been exposed as too often serving vested interests, that sold off our
country’s assets and the labour of generations not yet born to pay
foreign moneylenders for the gambling debts of bankers, property
speculators and their political lackeys, it is refreshing to know that
there are still politicians whose actions and deeds mark them off as
servants of the people rather than abusers of public office. None more
so than Michael D Higgins whose career spanning six decades has been
about implementing the ideals of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic “…that guarantees
religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to
all its citizens…to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole
nation…cherishing all the children of the nation equally…”.

His
life has been a never-ending campaign against poverty and oppression
and against the powerful elites of church and state both here and abroad
who stood in the way of securing equality, justice and due recognition
for women, children, gays, artists, minorities and the disabled. He has
served as the conscience of the nation on so many occasions and on so
many issues, sometimes giving voice to the voiceless, reminding us all,
time and time again, of the core values and responsibilities that
underpin citizenship, democracy and natural justice. Often this struggle
has been a lonely one even within his own political party.

Over
the years he has encountered many political setbacks and much personal
vilification. But such obstacles never daunted him and today he burns
with the same passion, intellect and idealism that he has always
possessed. In the last Dáil, he was one of only eighteen TDs that voted
against the catastrophic bank bailout.

Michael
D sits amongst the pantheon of heroic government ministers that include
Frank Aiken, Noel Browne, Seán Lemass and Donough O’Malley whose
visionary actions have brought long-lasting benefits to the country. As
the first Minster for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, he established
TG4, re-invigorated the Irish film industry, gave legal protection to
wildlife habitats, ended political censorship in public broadcasting and
established a countrywide network of public museums, arts venues and
theatres.

A
lot of the fundamental rights that we take for granted today in areas
such as divorce, access to contraceptives, female equality, status of
children and the disabled were only won within the last few decades
after long and hard fought campaigns by activists that always included
Michael D. Sadly he was too often the lone member of the Oireachtas
within their midst.

Maria O'Malley with Michael D with an Anti-Apartheid poster from the late 1970s at a NUIG Reunion party

He portrays those traits of the Irish that have over the centuries earned us admiration across the world.
Our respect for arts, culture, nature, folklore, heritage, sport, hard
work, creativity, compassion, egalitarianism, spirituality and community
is known in schools, theatres, concert arenas, churches, parliaments,
village halls and stadia from Seoul to Berlin; our struggle for
nationhood and republican principles has inspired generations of the
downtrodden in the Americas, Australia, Africa and Asia; our traditional
non-alignment stance has made us trusted by small nations and a popular
choice as UN peacekeepers in areas of conflict.

Michael
D’s whole life personifies this positive image of Ireland. If he became
president, he would help undo the harm caused at home and abroad by
those few but prominent Irish who forgot their roots, were often
anti-patriotic tax exiles and epitomised an arrogance and greed that
damaged the nation. Michael’s campaign trips overseas were always in solidarity with those communities in need and
not junkets or golf outings as was the case with some of his fellow
parliamentarians. His presidency would rekindle our national spirit,
making us proud to be Irish, and being able once again to offer
something of worth to the wider global community.

We are pleased to announce that Joe Egan and his team of horses (photo) from Ballymahon county Longford will be raking a meadow at this unique traditional farming event in the heart of urban Galway. Regular participants in agricultural shows across the country, they appeared last week in the National Ploughing Championships in county Offaly.

So don't miss this very special rural fest that will also include the mowing of a field by a vintage tractor, skillet pot cooking, children's traditional field games, a demonstration of hand-held scything, and the seeding of a wildflower meadow.
Part of the ‘Loving Galway – celebrating our Green and Blue Spaces’ festival the event, taking place from 10am on this Saturday September 29th in the area of the Terryland Forest Park behind Sandyvale Lawn on the Headford Road, will be a wonderful opportunity for city dwellers to experience the delights of a farming way of life that was part of the fabric of Ireland up until a few decades ago.

With strong
community campaigns being undertaken in Connemara, Tuam and Athenry to convert
old disused railway lines into Greenways, there is now a corresponding
grassroots movement in Galway city who want to transform an almost forgotten
series of old country lanes or boreens into a network of safe walking and
sometimes cycling routes that supporters believe will bring enormous health,
educational, environmental, biodiversity, social, economic and tourist
benefits.

To increase public
awareness and use of these ancient trails, they are asking people of all ages to
join them on a ‘Walk of the Boreens’ that will start at the ‘Plots’ sport pitch
on the Woodquay end of Dyke Road at 9am on Sunday September 30th as part of
National Walking Day and ‘Loving Galway – celebrating our Green and Blue
Spaces’ festival. It is being co-organised with the ‘Healthy Ireland at your
Library’ initiative.

The route will
primarily be along laneways and riverbanks stretching from Terryland via
Coolough to Menlo.

According to spokesperson
Brendan Smith, “With the increasing urbanisation of the world as populations
move in ever-expanding numbers into cities, there is now a growing realisation
by the medical, teaching and scientific professions as well by policy makers
and local communities that humanity’s growing disconnect with the rest of
Nature is causing serious long-term damage to individuals and to societies.

“Supported by
Mayor Sadiq Khan and an umbrella movement comprising politicians of all hues, teachers,
scientists, environmentalists, businesses and communities, London has led the
way in ‘bringing the jungle’ back into the lives of city dwellers by working
towards achieving ‘National Park City’ status. Through a combination of nature
reserves, parks, woodlands, gardens, wetlands, waterways and roadside verges it
is now recognised that approximately 49.8% of the English capital can be
defined as ‘green’ and ‘blue’. With a human population of over 8 millions,
there is also an estimated 15,000 species of flora and fauna living in this
huge built metropolis.

We want Galway to
follow the lead of London and work to lay the groundwork for a ‘National Park City’ status as part of
Galway City of Culture 2020. Mayor Neil McNelis expressed broad support for our
campaign when he recently met with our delegation that included Daniel Raven
Ellison, who initiated the London proposal in 2015. Investment is of course required
from City Hall and from government if this goal is to be achieved. But the
benefits are huge at so many levels. We also have the added advantage that Galway
has one of the most traditional rural landscapes of any city in Europe,
something that most citizens are not aware off.

So we want
people of all ages to join us on Sunday September 30th as we
undertake an exciting city journey along country lanes that pass by or through the
wetlands of the River Corrib, the woods of Terryland Forest Park, the karst
limestone outcrops of Crestwood, the hedgerows of Coolough, the waterways of Menlo
and the farmlands of Castlegar.

Participants should wear suitable weather/ramblers
clothing/footware and bring along packed lunch and water

For further
information contact Brendan Smith at speediecelt@gmail.com.

Shouldn't everyone be able to experience the beautiful Connemara landscape of this photograph in safety, at a leisurely pace, with family, friends or by oneself, away from the noise and traffic of motorised vehicles?

In the last four weeks, nearly 6,500 people agree with these sentiments and have signed our petition requesting that a Connemara Greenway be built along the old railway line from Galway city to Clifden.

The landscapes and waterscapes of this area of Ireland are world famous and are celebrated in song and verse. But the enjoyment factor for tourists are severely curtailed due to a lack of a safe walking and cycling infrastructure. Such an facility would benefit not only visitors but also the people of Connemara, offering them a commuter facility to and from Galway city as well as providing sustainable jobs. The educational, health, social, environmental and economic benefits are huge.

The government recently launched a national Greenway strategy with €53 million being made available to local authorities to invest in developing the networks in the 2019-2021 period. Galway County Council now has to submit a proposal by late November requesting funding for the Connemara Greenway which is planned to link into a Galway city - Dublin Greenway and hopefully onto the existing Mayo Greenway and a proposed Sligo Greenway (that my good friend Martin J Brennan is leading the campaign for).

So we need to get our petition completed within the next few weeks and hand it into the county council in order to ensure that they apply for funding for the whole route. Can we get 20,000 names before we submit? It would be wonderful if we could! So please support this noble cause and sign the petition if you have not already do so at https://bit.ly/2MgGyMl. Please encourage your family, friends and work colleagues to do likewise.

Lover of Nature, of Peoples & of Technology.Endeavour to 'Think Global, Act Local'.Believer in Liberation Theology.Proud to be Irish with a Rebel Heart.

"I view 'Technology' as a liberating force & a means of helping in saving the planet from man's catastrophic interference.

Lead mentor in Africa Code Week. 'Galway Science Person of the Year' Award 2006& 2012. 'Galway IT in the Community' Award 2014 (ITAG). Recipient of Galway Mayoral Award
for community projects. Co-founder of Coderdojo Galway City which won ITAG 'Technology in the Community Award' 2013. Curator & founding member of Computer & Communications Museum of Ireland. Presented also with a number of other Science &
Technology plaudits including Galway ITAG Information Technology Schools Award 2006.Former Holiday Village manager, pub owner & Music promoter.

The Irish

The great Gaels of IrelandAre the men that God made madFor all their wars are merry,And all their songs are sad-G.K. Chesterton, English writer

Wise Words

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. -Martin Luther King